CrowdStrike (CRWD) RSU sell-vs-hold
Calculator · free · no signup · CRWDSell at vest or hold? Compare after-tax payout from selling CrowdStrike RSUs at vest vs. holding through the LTCG cliff at 12 months.
Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools
Your vest
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1 yr
$47,709
Sell + invest wins by $4,981 over Hold 1 yr.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Heads-up: under-withholding. Your employer withholds federal tax at the IRS supplemental rate (22.0% on this vest, ≈ $17,600). Your marginal federal rate on this vest is 32.7%, owing $26,171. Expect to settle the $8,571 gap at tax time.
The hidden purchase
Tax was paid at vest either way. Holding is mathematically equivalent to taking $44,509 in after-tax cash and buying $44,509 of CRWD today.
Most diversification frameworks would advise against a purchase that size in a single name; the right answer depends on your conviction in CRWD. Holding past one year converts the gain to LTCG.
Sell + invest
Best payout| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$1,160 |
| Additional Medicare | −$720 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $4,451 |
| Cap-gain tax on diversified gain — LTCG (federal + state + NIIT) | −$1,251 |
| Net at year 1 yr | $47,709 |
Sell every share at vest; invest the after-tax cash at the market return for 1 yr, then liquidate. Diversified — no single-stock concentration risk.
Hold 1 yr
| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Vest tax (federal + state + FICA) | |
| Net at year 1 yr | $42,728 |
Sold 444 shares to cover vest tax (net-settled); kept 556 shares 1 yr to qualify for long-term capital gains.
Social Security + Medicare are payroll taxes (collectively called FICA) — they apply because you're still employed at vest.
Both columns are stated in year-1 yr dollars. The sell side compounds at the market return; the hold side compounds at your single-stock expected return after a 20% volatility drag.
Estimates only. Assumes net-settled (sell-to-cover) vesting; double-trigger and pre-IPO RSUs are out of scope. Excludes multi-state moves, AMT interactions on other equity, and 83(b) elections. Not financial advice.
You evaluated one RSU vest. The beta plans every vest of every grant across years, with concentration and AMT in the loop.
Request beta access →About CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike (CRWD) is a public Cybersecurity company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Austin, TX. IPO'd Jun 12, 2019.
Last close: $679.49 per share (as of 2026-06-16).
Equity grants at CrowdStrike typically include non-qualified stock options (NSOs) and restricted stock units (RSUs).
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services. The company was co-founded in 2011 by George Kurtz, Dmitri Alperovitch, and Gregg Marston. Kurtz serves as the CEO. CrowdStrike went public on the Nasdaq in 2019 and joined the S&P 500 index in 2024.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Founded in 2011 by George Kurtz, Dmitri Alperovitch, and Gregg Marston, CrowdStrike built Falcon, a cloud-native endpoint protection platform that uses a lightweight agent for EDR, XDR, identity protection, cloud security, and the Charlotte AI assistant. The company went public on NASDAQ as CRWD in June 2019 at $34 and now operates from Austin, Texas. A faulty Falcon channel file update on July 19, 2024 crashed roughly 8.5 million Windows machines globally, triggering the largest IT outage in history. CrowdStrike recovered, joined the S&P 500, and crossed $5 billion in ARR during fiscal 2026.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org
Equity comp at CrowdStrike
- RSUs use single-trigger vesting: shares become yours as each portion vests on schedule, and the value is taxed as ordinary income at that point. No IPO or acquisition is required.
Researched 2026-05-07.
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CrowdStrike.
CrowdStrike (CRWD) RSUs vest as ordinary income at the price on vest day. The decision is whether to sell at vest and reinvest, or hold the shares through the 12-month LTCG cliff. This calculator runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare like-for-like.
Example: 500 CrowdStrike (CRWD) RSUs vesting at $679.49 per share is $339,745 of ordinary income on vest day. After roughly 32% combined federal + state + FICA (~$108,718), the post-tax share value is ~$231,027. Holding 12 months for long-term capital-gains treatment then only matters for the price change between vest and sale; the ordinary income at vest is already locked in. The calculator runs both paths through the same after-tax math.
All CrowdStrike tools → · Use the generic RSU Sell-vs-Hold Calculator for any company.
CrowdStrike equity questions
- Should I sell or hold my CrowdStrike RSUs at vest?
- CrowdStrike restricted stock units (RSUs) are taxed as ordinary income on their value at vest whether or not you sell. The only open decision is what to do with the shares afterward: sell at vest and reinvest, or hold past twelve months for long-term capital-gains treatment on any further gain. The calculator above runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare them directly.
- Does CrowdStrike grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at CrowdStrike typically takes the form of non-qualified stock options (NSOs) and restricted stock units (RSUs). Restricted stock units are taxed as ordinary income when they vest.
- Do CrowdStrike RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- No. CrowdStrike restricted stock units (RSUs) use single-trigger vesting: each tranche becomes yours as it vests on schedule, taxed as ordinary income at that point, with no liquidity event required.
One piece of the puzzle.
OptionsAhoy plans your CrowdStrike equity alongside hedging, vesting, and de-concentration, across bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios. Free during beta.